Diversity, identity and ecological role of a novel fungal super clade

生物多样性的很大一部分是微生物。微生物是地球上每个生态系统和自然环境的重要组成部分，但我们对微生物多样性和生态作用的理解仍处于起步阶段。在过去的15年里，分子方法被用于针对特定环境中存在的所有微生物的DNA。这些方法能够捕获每个微生物基因组的亚段作为识别代码。然后，我们可以使用这些DNA代码片段来识别任何环境中存在的大多数生物体。这种方法极大地扩展了我们对地球上生命多样性的认识。这些方法揭示了存在于一系列水生环境中的一组多样而神秘的生物，这些生物似乎是全新的，以前从未被研究过。分析表明，这样一个多样化的群体可能与真菌有关。真菌包括众所周知的蘑菇和酵母，但也包括在许多生态系统中负责回收生物质的大量微生物。鉴于该微生物群在全球水生环境中的多样性和广泛分布，该微生物群很可能代表了微生物群落的重要组成部分。此外，与已知的真菌微生物相比，这一群体在生命之树中具有非常新颖的地位。因此，对其生物学的进一步了解将为理解真菌王国及其近亲动物的进化多样化提供重要数据。我们计划使用特定的荧光探针从一系列环境样品中识别、描述和研究这种新群体的生态作用。这种方法将使我们能够观察这些微生物细胞的性质及其在不同生境类型中的丰度和作用。

A large proportion of the diversity of life is microbial. Microbes are important components of every ecosystem and natural environment on Earth, yet our understanding of microbial diversity and ecological roles is still in its infancy. In the last 15 years, molecular methods have been used which target the DNA of all microbes present in a particular environment. These methods enable the capture of sub-sections of each microbial genome for use as an identifying code. We can then use these fragments of DNA code to identify most of the organisms present in any environment. This approach has massively expanded our appreciation of the diversity of life on Earth. Such approaches have revealed a diverse and mysterious group of organisms present in a range of aquatic environments that appear to be entirely novel and previously uninvestigated. Analyses suggest that one such diverse group could be related to the Fungi. The Fungi include the well-known mushrooms and yeasts but also a massive range of microbes responsible for recycling biomass in many ecosystems. Given the diversity and extensive distribution of this microbial group in aquatic environments around the globe it is likely that the group represents an important part of the microbial community. In addition, this group has a very novel position in the tree of life with respect to known fungal microbes. Therefore a greater appreciation of their biology will provide important data for understanding the evolutionary diversification of the fungal kingdom and their close relatives the animals. We plan to use specific probes with fluorescence to identify, describe and investigate the ecological role of this novel group from a range of environmental samples. This approach will enable us to observe the nature of these microbial cells and their abundance and role within different habitat types.